In a no-holds-barred interview with The Art of Dialogue, Lord Jamar, a member of the iconic hip-hop group Brand Nubian, didn’t shy away from discussing the unsettling moments he experienced early in his career. From strange invitations to questionable celebrations, the veteran rapper recalled some of the more uncomfortable situations he faced as a young artist in the music industry.
During the interview, Lord Jamar shared how a well-known hip-hop executive once invited him to a Turkish bathhouse. Jamar quickly realized that this invite was far from the usual business meeting. “He was naming big CEO-type dudes that would be there,” Jamar explained. “For a young, impressionable kid, you might want to go. But when I found out it was all men and naked, I was like, ‘That sounds gay.'”
Jamar made it clear that he wasn’t interested, trusting his gut that something wasn’t right. “He tried to convince me it wasn’t what I thought, but I wasn’t having it.”
Jamar recounted another incident involving an A&R executive from a major label who helped him earn around $60,000 in a short span of time in the 1990s. The two would hang out at clubs, but things took a strange turn when the exec claimed to be in between homes and constantly had clothes in the back of his Range Rover.
Eventually, the A&R got a new place and invited Jamar over to celebrate, suggesting they call up a girl to “run a train on her.” Jamar declined again, sensing that something wasn’t right. “I turned him down, but later I found out he had tried the same thing with someone else—and it was even worse.”
Lord Jamar later learned from his friend Stickman from Dead Prez that the same A&R had invited another man over with the same shady proposition. This time, however, the A&R didn’t even bother to have a woman present, trying to make a move on the guest instead.
“If he would have tried that with me, it would’ve been a murder in there,” Jamar said, clearly upset at the thought of being played like that.
In the end, Lord Jamar’s experiences serve as a warning for up-and-coming artists. “Nobody’s ever outright tried me, but those moments were definitely people testing me,” he reflected. His message to anyone the entertainment world? Always trust your gut and be cautious when someone invites you into a situation that doesn’t feel right.
